ALL NOVEL 38. Haligrad Gate Massacre (Part 3) *
The assassin bewildered that his stealth skill had been seen through, dropped his weapon as he fell to the floor, only to have a sword plunged through his left chest.
Seeing the faces filled with shock around her, Astaria pulled her sword out of the assassin and continued walking towards Iron Fist as if nothing had happened. Her nonchalance at so easily killing an assassin who had tried to sneak up on her paired with her appearance that had been bathed in fresh blood unnerved the remaining players, causing them to take another step back.
Iron Fist clearly didn't like the feeling of intimidation that Astaria gave off as the visible parts of his expression that were not hidden by his helmet all radiated displeasure. She could understand somewhat as she mentally noted her appearance. Her relatively clean golden hair contrasted with the blood-spattered face that couldn't hide the mildly manic grin, a grin that was beginning to return to a normal smile as her adrenaline cooled down.
Iron Fist seemed to finally snap, displeased that he felt intimidated by a single woman. He started to rush forward, shouting out as he charged at Astaria.
“If everyone else will be a bitch and not fight, I will do it myself!”
With a clear lack of a plan, Iron Gist raised his weapons and blindly charged toward Astaria who decided to stand in place and wait for him.
As soon as Iron Fist reached within striking distance with his two handed sword, he wildly thrust towards Astaria as she took a step to her left, cleanly dodging the magic swordsman's obvious attack. She retaliated with a swift upward slash that cleanly cut his right arm off by the elbow through the gap in his armour.
With a shout of mild pain, Iron Fist’s face became ugly as he wildly swung his sword at Astaria. The lacking strike from his nondominant hand was easily blocked with her staff while she swung her shortsword again, cutting off his now exposed left arm. Their short exchange rang out over the low murmurs of the onlookers who all watched this last clash with bated breath, making the sound of their weapons clashing much louder, and the reverberating sound of Iron Fists greatsword hitting the ground louder still.
With her opponent disarmed, she sent a kick to his chest to create a gap between them allowing the strike to his chin from her staff to hit true. The blow sent Iron Fist stumbling backwards as he struggled to stay upright from the concussive force, shortly succumbing to the blow and falling to his knees. As he knelt on the floor in mental shock as the loss of his arms registered, his severed limbs spilt blood all over the floor while Astaria took the last few steps to close the gap between them.
Astaria looked down at Iron Fist, observing him as he stared at the floor, dazed with his teeth gritted in both pain from his wounds and what she could assume was the shame of being forced down to the ground, kneeling in front of someone who defeated him so easily.
Astaria could see that his attention was slightly drawn back to reality as her boots appeared in his lowered line of sight while the cold steel tip of her sword forced his chin upwards so he was looking at her face.
Seeing Iron Fist in this position finally calmed the last of Astaria’s battle frenzy down, replacing it by filling her with a feeling of satisfaction at seeing someone who was trying to push their weight to bully others now kneeling in defeat. despite that, she still felt a pang of guilt seeing how shocked Iron Fist looked after losing his arms, but knew that he would get over it. The system would help take care of any trauma after all.
As Astaria locked eyes with Iron Fist, she started to speak in a lowered tone so only he could hear her words.
“You brought this upon yourself. You may treat this like some game, but let me be clear. It is not. Actions have consequences. If you wish to act like a delinquent bandit, prepare yourself to be hunted down like an animal.”
Seeing Iron Fist's face contort once again as his attention was brought away from his missing arms, Astaria leaned down slightly towards him, her alluring face becoming clearly visible to him as she mockingly smiled.
“I know your precious little ego has been hurt, but if you spend the time to rub your two brain cells together you will realise how stupid your current actions were. Trying to intimidate a single player with a group of over 50 people behind you? In front of a large number of players and the city guards? Reputation is important after all, something you will quickly learn.”
Upon Hearing this, Iron Fist started shouting directly into Astaria’s face, the sudden shock from the blow to his head having slightly cleared.
“Who the fuck do you think you are to act like this? Some fucking hero? You probably just used your face to get others to do your levelling for you, filthy whore. Go fuck off to some brothel so you can suck off your simps. Useless slut of-”
As Iron Fist started ranting, Astaria could feel her anger once again rising, eventually reaching the point where she snapped, picking the idiotic player up by the neck and strangling him as she moved closer to his face. The hold on his neck stopped Iron Fist from speaking, the only noises coming out being strangled noises as he tried to breathe.
“I will say this once, and only once. Grow. The. Fuck. Up. You are not a child, so act your age and quit throwing a tantrum. My actions speak loud enough, so if you want to ignore my advice, fine, just don’t implicate anyone else in your idiocy.”
Closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath, Astaria shook her head as she tried to calm herself down opening her eyes again to look at Iron Fist who was struggling to get himself free from her grip while covering her robe in more blood, not wanting to get any closer to the player who cut off his arms.
“I have no time for your shit. Try this again and I will farm you back to level 0.”
Astaria threw him back to the ground using him to tumble onto his back, clearly shaken by her words.
Now having dealt with the ego filed prick and causing his guildmates to back off all looking distressed, Astaria turned her attention to the clamouring of the onlookers who were looking on with mixed expressions trying to hear her discussion with Iron Fist. She decided that this situation was an opportunity, she looked back down to Iron Fist and swung her sword, separating his head so it could roll away from his body before turning back to address the restless crowd.
Gesturing around her, Astaria raised her voice so everyone could hear her.
“I would advise others against this kind of behaviour. If this had impacted the NPC's, the guards would have got involved, and we all know how that would end. And if you think this lot-"
Astaria gestured to all the dead bodies that were lying around her as she spoke.
"Will only receive the punishment of losing 5% XP, you are wrong. Word of their actions well spread amongst the locals, like on Earth. Who would offer trash an important quest? Just treat others how you wish to be treated yourself. It’s an age-old saying, but it rings true. For those thinking that robbing others is the way they wish to play, just know that you will end up in a state much worse than this group.”
Observing the reactions of the silent crowd, she inwardly smiled seeing many people nodding in agreement with her, with numerous people all showing expressions of sudden realisation as they realised their actions would impact the NPCs far more than their first impressions.
Having said what she wanted, Astaria looked back over her shoulder and gave an upward nod gesturing towards the gatre, knowing that Ash would know what she meant before saying her last words.
“As players, we may have a little more leeway than the people of Caelus, but it has limits. Keep that in mind.”
Within a few moments, the other members of her group appeared from the shadows and walked up to Astaria, each leading their horse by the reigns while sporting amused expressions that held a hint of concern seeing the mess she had created. As the rest of her group appeared, the crowd began to clamour seeing another level 24 player accompanied by 4 others at levels 18 and 19. The remaining Iron Fist members immediately cleared the way to the gate with their faces all draining of any colour.
Astaria pulled her hood back up, taking Sapphire's Reigns from Roxanne as she led the group into Haligrad, feeling her back becoming a little straighter in pride of taking on a whole guild by herself. She was aware that with the level disparity, it was not quite as impressive, but in her mind it validated all the effort she had put into fighting groups of other players in the past.
As Astaria silently walked through the parted crowd, she could hear the quiet mutterings from the other players around her discussing what had just happened and the little comment she had just given. Most of the responses seemed to be positive bringing a slight smile to her hooded face.
Finally crossing the threshold of the gate, Astaria let out a deep sigh of relief thankful there was no other drama. With no further disturbances to bother her, she was able to freely move about again. With the first stop on the group's agenda at the adventurers guild now they were finally back in Halligrad, she made her way towards the market square with her friends only a few steps behind.
“Fucking hell Chester, that was insane!”
Hearing Tyrell’s exclamation, Astaria let out a laugh as she relaxedly walked through the city’s night-time streets.
“Honestly, just having access to intermediate skills won me that fight. It’s amazing how predictable new players are, just running at someone. You may have experience in playing games on a screen, but as soon as you are there in person, emotions and primal instinct can easily take control of you and your experience is thrown out the window.”
With a slight cough, Ash spoke up and expressed his opinion.
“You are not wrong at all, as soon as you destroyed their formation, they looked like a zombie horde running at you. It was quite funny.”
With a sigh, Astaria shrugged her shoulders, pushing a few locks of her dishevelled hair out of her face.
“It’s inevitable, even I had to get over the natural instinct. Just be conscious of how you act in a fight, and treat PvP the same as you do when hunting monsters. The scenario is the same, just that players are more unpredictable. As long as you guys can keep your cool, you will be far ahead of most players for a while.”
With a few murmurs of agreement, Astaria led the group through the city streets and towards their next destination which held the promise of as much excitement as they had just experienced at the front gate.
